Summary: Should we invite non believers to church?

As I finished out my chapter through chapter re-read of the book of Acts, I see believers and non-believers in various settings:

hearing the word of God proclaimed,

gifts of the Spirit are manifested,

elders are chosen,

people getting saved, etc.

The biblical DESCRIPTION of what happened in the NT church involved these elements. It gets mighty confusing to look at the book of Acts and to say

“that’s not a church meeting” but “that assembly is a church meeting.”

That’s not church, that is church,

Paul’s preaching in the synagogue is outreach, but teaching in a different place is a church gathering.

What is obvious is that people were being regularly and daily saved. This no basis to say that these conversions were occurring within or outside of the gatherings.

Acts merely describes what was happening.

It does not define a how the church will function following this particular era.

The church as a gathering PLACE is in development.

The earliest glimpses in Acts shows groups of people meeting in synagogues, public squares, and in houses. Today’s PLACES of gathering is very different than the gatherings in the book of Acts. Most of us meet in a dedicated space or building set apart for church meetings.

The church as a gathered PEOPLE is still a theological concept in development.

It is later spelled out in Paul’s letters.

The church gathered for the PURPOSE of a particular expression of worship is not the same.

It does not look like the weekly gathering of God’s people for worship as we know it in nearly any form today.

To ask the book of Acts for evidence about inviting non-believers to a church is ultimately a practice that will fail.

As the remaining passages deal with the missionary expansion of the early Christians there were no “churches” in these towns for the gathering of the saints They were being created as the apostles went forth, so looking at these passages for evidence of church practices may be pointless.

Objections I have encountered:

As I’ve discussed this with people, I’ve encountered a few uses of Scripture and examples that attempt to prove the point that we should not invite unbelievers to church.

I want to touch a few of those points below.

1. Don’t be unequally yoked.

2 Corinthians 6:14 reads:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

I’m not convinced that applies to inviting a unsaved person to church hear the gospel message. Inviting a unsaved friend to church is not spiritually uniting with them. It is not asking them into membership. It is not offering them a leadership position. Instead it is inviting them to come and hear the word of God proclaimed, where they can evaluate the message for themselves.

The underlying imagery from the OT is two different animals walking together.

I see this passage applying to marriage, business partnerships, church leadership and other places where two would walk together in close unity. I’m not sure Paul talks specifically about church gatherings, but a lifestyle.

In terms of church life, I’d see it applying to membership, church leadership positions, pastors etc.

They are the leaders of the church. Members who have joined a church should of course profess faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. We do not have atheists as church members, unsaved as elders, etc.

I don’t think this “yoking” or spiritual mixing occurs when we invite a non-believer to hear the word of God proclaimed in our worship services. If I invite a non-believer into a leadership position – to help me lead the church in some way – THEN that line is crossed.

2. Unsaved Visitors were Rare.

1 Corinthians 14:22-25

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

This passage ASSUMES their presence, but doesn’t indicate the manner in which the non-believer arrived. The verb is simply “COMES IN” but gives no indication of the manner: by invitation, by curiosity, by advertising, nothing.

I’ve seen this passage used to share that the presence of such visitor was RARE. That assumes facts not in evidence. The one clear mention of a non believer being present doesn’t mean it was rare. It is an unprovable assertion. Paul’s point is addressing the misuse of tongues, not church invitations. Likewise, I cannot prove from the texts that it was a COMMON practice. I’d have to assume facts not in evidence.

One cannot say the practice was RARE or COMMON without assuming facts. What we can say is that Paul does not prohibit the presence of non-believers in the midst of the assembly, nor does Paul specifically command that we give invitations.

The point of this passage is that the Corinthian church should be sensitive to the non-believing visitors in their midst. I believe this should be part of every church’s DNA, whether you speak in tongues or not. You want your unsaved visitors to declare that God is in your midst.

3. Jesus as an example.

The assertion that I’ve seen is that Jesus did not have a non-believer in his group of 12, then we shouldn’t have them as well in our churches.

However, the particular question we are discussing – can we invite the unsaved to our church services – does not seem to be answered by Jesus as an example. This is a straw man, I think, for this discussion.

There was no church to invite people to. He lived in a different time than an organized church.

Of course he didn’t yoke himself with a non-believing sinner who advocated for things not of the Lord. But he did hangout with people who needed him. He clearly hung out with people, welcomed people who sought him out etc.

I don’t see him rejecting people who don’t yet believe based on a meeting place or specific type of gathering.

Coaching Corner

Let me ask you this:

For what reasons SHOULD we invite our non-Christian friends to church? Answer in the comment field. . .

About EvangelismCoach

Chris wants to help you increase the number of conversations that lead people towards Christ. He has studied evangelism and church growth ever since working for a Billy Graham crusade over 20 years ago, and has led countless training seminars throughout North and South America in many different denominations.

Comments

Hi Chris Just skimmed your info on church and if we should invite unbelievers etc Have you ever read Ezek 44 You will notice in verse 6-10 “Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations. “When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it–My house–and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. “And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set [others] to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who [is] among the children of Israel.

Chris how should we as the temple of God (the church) allow the uncircumcised into to have fellowship with us? Answer we can’t and should not. Our work is to Go into all the world. God’s work to to the church those being saved. Period. Then we are to disciple the babies until they are mature.

That’s it

Nigel “And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

Nigel, We are in a different covenant. Thankfully, a new, better covenant. The old mosaic covenant is obsolete and does not apply to us nor has it ever. It was made between God and the nation of Israel at that time.http://www.padfield.com/2004/covenants.html

If we invite non believers to our church and they come, shouldn’t there be an alter call (can’t find alter call in bible) so if the non believer wants to know anything about JESUS he could go forward if he chose to. Without an alter call maybe the unbeliever would just go away And forget about the whole thing.

I agree with you on this subject. I have known several people even friends of mine who are saved today as a result of having been invited to church. Also I am amazed at the people I meet who say that you should not invite unbelievers in and they are not out winning souls.

@ Claudette While “Altar Call” is not a biblical term, the idea of calling for a response is approrpriate. This is an appropriate response when preaching evangelistically in a church setting. I do it every now and then.

But if you as the preacher know that you are preaching to believers, the altar call should be something to invite believers to respond in some way. No point in giving an evangelistic altar call if there are no unsaved people there, generally speaking.

Preachers have different ways to allow people to respond to an altar call: raise hand, come forward, talk with me after the service, etc. . .the form is not important as much as calling for a response in a non-manipulative way.

When I do workshops on a person’s testimony and invite people to share their story to faith, an invitation to church is one of the many stepping stones in many stories that God has used to bring a person to faith.

I remember one class with 8 students in it. Every single one mentioned a friend’s invitation to church that helped them to discover the grace of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your reply. I will have to think on that and read more scripture. At least if Pastor says something like if anyone has questions I will be here after service. We know that all church goers are not always saved. Thank you